Isaiah 26

On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

"We have a strong city;he sets up victory like walls and ramparts!

Open the gates so thatthe righteous nation who keeps faithfulness may enter!

You will protect a firm inclination in peace,in peace because he trusts in you.Trust in Yahweh forever,for in Yah, Yahweh you have an everlasting rock.For he has thrown down the inhabitants of the height,he lays low the lofty city.He lays it low to the ground;he throws her to the dust.The foot tramples it,the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy."

The way of the righteous is a straight path;you clear the level path of the righteous.Surely we wait for you in the path of your judgments, Yahweh,for your name and renown are the desire of the soul.I desire you with all my soul in the night;also I seek you with my spirit within me,for when your judgments areupon the earth,the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Though the wicked person is shown compassion, he does not learn righteousness;

he acts unjustly in the land of uprightness,and he does not see the majesty of Yahweh.

Yahweh, though your hand reaches high, they do not see it.

Let them see, and let them be ashamed of the zeal of people.Indeed, let the fire of your enemies consume them.Yahweh, you will establish peace for us,for you have done even all of our works for us.Yahweh, our God, lords besides you ruled over us,but we praise your name alone.The dead do not live;dead spirits do not risebecause you have punished and destroyed them,and you have destroyed all memory of them.You have added to the nation, Yahweh.You have added to the nation; you are honored.You have extended all the ends of the land.Yahweh, in distress they have visited you;they poured out an incantation;your discipline was on them.Like a pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes;she cries in her labor pains.

So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

We became pregnant, we writhed;we gave birth to wind.We cannot bring about deliverance on the earth,and no inhabitants of the world are born.Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise.Wake up and sing for joy, dwellers of the dust,for your dew iscelestial dew,and the earth will give birth to dead spirits.Go, my people, enter into your chambersand shut your doors behind you;hide for a very little while,until the wrath has passed over.For look! Yahweh is about to come out from his placeto punish the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth against him,and the earth will disclose her bloodand will no longer cover her slain.

Isaiah 27

On that day, Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.

On that day:

"A vineyard of beauty! Sing in praise of it!I, Yahweh, am her keeper;I water it again and again.Lest one afflict harm on it,I guard it night and day;I have no wrath.Whatever gives me thorns and briers,I will step forth against in battle.I will set it on fire altogether.Or let it grasp at my protection;let it make peace with me;peace let it make with me."Days are coming, let Jacob take root;Israel will blossom and send out shoots,and they will fill the face of the world with fruit.Does he strike him as he struck down those who struck him?Or is he killed as those who killed him were killed?By expelling her, by her sending away, you argue with her.He removed them with his strong wind,in the day of the east wind.Therefore by this he will make atonement for the guilt of Jacob,and this will be all of the fruit of the removal of his sin:when he makes all the stones of the altar like crushed stones of chalk,no poles of Asherah worship or incense altars will stand.For the fortified city is solitary,a settlement deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;the calf grazes there,lies down there and destroys its branches.When its branches are dry, they are broken;women are coming and setting light to it.

For it is not a people of understanding;

therefore his maker will not have compassion on him,and his creator will not show him favor.

And this shall happen:

on that day, Yahweh will thresh from the floodwaters of the Euphrates to the wadi of Egypt, and as for you, you will be gathered one by one, sons of Israel.

And this shall happen:

on that day, a great trumpet will be blown,

and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come,and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt,

and they will bow down to Yahweh on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 28

Ah! The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraimand the withering flower of the glory of his beauty,which is at the head of the rich valley,ones overcome with wine!Look! The Lord has a mighty and strong one,like a rainstorm of hail, a wind storm of destruction,like a rainstorm of mighty overflowing waters,he will put them to the earth with his hand.The garland of the pride of the drunkards of Ephraimwill be trampled by feet,and the withering flower of the glory of its beautywhich is at the head of the rich valleywill be like its early fig before summer,which the one who sees it swallows while it is still in his hand.In that day, Yahweh of hosts will become a garland of gloryand a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people,and a spirit of justice to the one who sits over judgment,and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.And these also stagger because of wineand stagger because of strong drink;priest and prophet stagger because of strong drink;they are confused because of wine.They stagger because of strong drink;they err in vision.They stagger in the rendering of a decision,for all the tables are full of disgusting vomit, with no place left.To whom will he teach knowledge,and to whom will he explain the message?Those who are weaned from milk,those taken from the breast?For it is blah-blah upon blah-blah,blah-blah upon blah-blah,gah-gah upon gah-gah,gah-gah upon gah-gah,a little here, a little there.

For he will speak with stammering and another tongue to this people, to whom he has said,

"This is rest; give rest to the weary;and this is repose"; yet they were not willing to hear.

And to them the word of Yahweh will be

blah-blah upon blah-blahblah-blah upon blah-blahgah-gah upon gah-gahgah-gah upon gah-gah,a little here, a little there,so that they may go and stumble backwardand be broken and ensnared and captured.

Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, men of mockery,rulers of these people in Jerusalem:

Because you have said,

"We have made a covenant with death,and we have made an agreement with Sheol.

The overwhelming flood, when it passes through, will not come to us,

for we have made lies our refuge,and we have hidden ourselves in falsehood."

And I will make justice the measuring line,and righteousness the plumb line;and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,and waters will flood over the hiding place.And your covenant with death will be annulled,and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.As often as it passes through, it will take you,for morning by morning it will pass through,in the day and in the night,

and understanding the message will be only terror."

For the bed is too short to stretch out on,and the covering is too narrow when wrapping oneself.For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;he will rave as in the valley at Gibeonto do his deed—his deed is strange—and to work his work—his work is alien!And now you must not scoff,or your bonds will be strong,

for I have heard from the Lord, Yahweh of hosts:

complete destructiondecreed upon all the land.

Listen, and hear my voice!Listen attentively, and hear my word!Is it all day that the plowman plows,opens to sow seed, harrows his ground?When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill,and sow cumin seed,and plant wheat in planted rows,and barley in an appointed place,and spelt grain as its border?And his God instructs him about the prescription;he teaches him.For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,nor is a wheel of a utility cart rolled over cumin,but dill is beaten out with a stick,and cumin with a rod.Grain is crushed fine,but certainly one does not thresh it forever;and one drives the wheel of his cart,but his horses do not crush it.

This also comes forth from Yahweh of hosts.

He is wonderful in advice;he makes great wisdom.

Isaiah 29

Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!

Add year to year,let festivals recur.Yet I will inflict Ariel,and there shall be mourning and lamentation,and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.And I will encamp in a circle against you,and I will lay siege to you with towersand I will raise up siegeworks against you.Then you shall be low;you shall speak from the earth,and your words will be low, from dust.And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,and your word will whisper from the dust.But the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.

And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.

You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts

with thunder and earthquake and great sound,storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,all those who fight against her and her stronghold,and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.Or as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!And he wakes up and look, he is faint,and his inner self is longing for water.So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.Be astonished and be amazed!Blind yourselves and be blinded!They are drunk but not from wine;they stagger but not from strong drink.For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,and he has covered your heads, the seers.

And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the document, saying, "Read this now!" He says, "I am not able, for it is sealed." And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read, saying, "Read this now!" he says, "I do not know how to read."

And the Lord said,

"Because this people draw near with its mouth,and with its lips it honors me,and its heart is far from me,and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,

therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular

and a spectacle with this spectacular people.And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden."Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,and their deeds are in a dark place.And they say, "Who sees us?And who knows us?"Your perversity!As if a potter shall be regarded as the clay!That the product of its maker says,"He did not make me,"and the thing made into shape says of its potter,"He has no understanding."

In a very little while shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.And the meek have joy after joy in Yahweh,and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.For the tyrant shall be no more,and the scoffer shall come to an end.And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;those who mislead a person into sin with a wordand set a trap for the arbitrator in the gateand guide away the righteous by emptiness.

Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:

"Jacob will no longer be ashamed,and his face will no longer grow pale.For when he sees his children,the work of my hands, in his midst,they will treat my name as holy,and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.And those who err in spirit will acquire understanding,and those who grumble will learn instruction.

Psalm 65

For the music director. A psalm of David. A song.

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion,and to you the vow shall be fulfilled.O you who hear prayer,to you all flesh will come.Iniquities prevail over me.As for our transgressions, you will forgive them.Blessed is one whom you choose and bring near,that he may abide in your courts.We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,your holy temple.By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us,O God of our salvation,you who are the confidence of all the ends of the earthand of the far-off seas,who established the mountains by his strength,the one who is girded with might,who stills the roar of the seas,the roar of their waves,and the commotion of the peoples,so that the inhabitants of the farthest reaches are in awe of your signs.You make the dawn and sunset sing for joy.You care for the land and water it;you greatly enrich it.The stream of God is filled with waters.You provide their grain,for so you have established it.You drench its furrows,penetrating its ridges.With rains you soften it;its growth you bless.You crown the year with your bounty,and your wagon paths drip with richness.They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,and the hills gird themselves with joy.The pasturelands put on flocks,and the valleys clothe themselves with grain.They shout in triumph;they even sing.

1 Corinthians 4

Thus let a person consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. In this case, moreover, it is sought in stewards that one be found faithful. But to me it is a very little matter that I be judged by you or by a human court, but I do not even judge myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, but not by this am I vindicated. But the one who judges me is the Lord. Therefore do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord should come, who will both enlighten the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the counsels of hearts, and then praise will come to each one from God.

Now I have applied these things, brothers, to myself and Apollos for your sake, in order that in us you may learn not to go beyond what is written, lest someone be inflated with pride on behalf of one person against the other. For who concedes you superiority? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if indeed you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Already you are satiated! Already you are rich! Apart from us you reign as kings! And would that indeed you reigned as kings, in order that we also might reign as kings with you! For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to people. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are prudent in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are dishonored! Until the present hour we are both hungry and thirsty and poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless, and we toil, working with our own hands. When we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we encourage. We have become like the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things, until now.

I am not writing these things to shame you, but admonishing you as my dear children. For if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. Therefore I exhort you, become imitators of me. Because of this, I have sent to you Timothy, who is my dear and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church. But some have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I am coming to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the talk of the ones who have become arrogant, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not with talk, but with power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?